Smoky BBQ Black Bean Burger

It’s gluten-free, BIG on flavor, infused with smoky BBQ flavor, and perfect on the grill or stovetop. Let’s do this!

This burger is easy to make, requiring simple methods and 10 wholesome ingredients you likely have on hand right now.

It all starts with black beans that are cooked down until dry and cracked, which helps keep the burgers from being mushy. Then comes toasted pecans, which are pulsed into a meal.

Then we add quinoa, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, cumin, chili powder, BBQ sauce, and salt. Quinoa adds moisture and also binds the burgers, and the rest is all about flavor: sweet potatoes for sweetness, mushrooms for “meatiness” and texture, and the spices and sauce for smoky BBQ flavor.

For these burgers, it’s best to sear both sides on the stovetop and then finish baking in the oven, where they will dry out and firm up a bit. But they are firm enough for the grill as well!

Once cooked, it’s all about the toppings. We went for vegan buns, lettuce, cabbage, red pepper, pickles, and more BBQ + a little hot sauce. Swoon.

FOR SERVING (optional)

Instructions

If you haven’t yet, cook quinoa and set aside to cool (see notes for instructions).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and spread rinsed, dried black beans onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake beans for 6 minutes. Then add pecans to the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes more. The nuts should be fragrant and golden brown (be careful not to burn), and the beans should appear dry and cracked open (this way, they do not become mushy in the burger mix). Set aside to cool. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 C).

In the meantime, heat a medium to large cast-iron or metal skillet over medium/medium-low heat. Once hot, add oil (or water) and the sweet potato. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning heat down if the potatoes are browning too quickly. Once browned on the underside, flip and cook for 3-4 minutes more or until tender and golden brown. Remove from the pan.

To the still-hot pan, add the sliced mushrooms and coconut aminos (optional - sub a little salt otherwise) and cook on medium/medium-high for about 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until they’re browned, fragrant, and cooked down to half their size. Set aside.

To a food processor, add beans and pecans and blitz/pulse into a loose meal (some texture is good - you don’t want a powder).

Next, add cooked sweet potato, mushrooms, half the quinoa, sea salt, chili powder, cumin, and BBQ sauce and pulse a few times to combine (again, some texture is good here - you're not going for a purée).

Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and stir in the rest of the quinoa. Then taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more cumin for smokiness, chili powder for heat, BBQ sauce for sweetness / depth of flavor, or salt for saltiness.

If the mixture appears too wet, add more quinoa. If it looks too dry, add more BBQ sauce (or a little coconut aminos) to moisten.

Divide the mixture into four even balls and form into patties with your hands or by lining a 1/2 cup measuring cup with plastic wrap, packing the mixture inside, then lifting the plastic wrap out - mash slightly into more of a disc. Refrigerate burgers for 30 minutes.

Once chilled, heat the cast-iron or metal pan from earlier over medium heat. Once hot, add a bit more oil (or water) and the burgers. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Then carefully flip and cook for 4-5 minutes on the other side. Then turn off heat, glaze/brush with a bit more BBQ sauce, and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake at 375 F (190C) for 10-15 minutes more. The burgers should appear browned.

Serve as is or with toppings. We enjoyed ours on buns with butter lettuce, shredded red pepper, shredded cabbage, pickles, radish, and more BBQ sauce. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer up to 1 month.

Notes

*To cook quinoa, add 1 part rinsed, drained quinoa to a small saucepan and toast for 3 minutes over medium heat. Then add 2 parts water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 18 minutes or until water is absorbed. Then fluff with a fork and set off the heat uncovered to cool. (As the recipe is written, the amounts should be 1/2 cup quinoa to 1 cup water.)*Prep time does not include cooking and cooling quinoa.*Nutrition information is a rough estimate for 1 burger calculated with oil and without coconut aminos or toppings.

Thanks for all the questions! Mushrooms are not essential, but they do add a nice meaty texture and flavor. I agree with Michelle that caramelized onions might be a good substitute, or even raw grated beets!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I know it must get tiring having to constantly answer questions about substitutions. As a vegan who also can’t consume gluten (or other grains) and soy, eating can feel really isolating sometimes! Your recipes have helped me look forward to cooking (and eating).

What a remarkable recipe! Everything you come up with seems to be incredible. Your website is outstanding I’ve been following you for a long time you have become my favorite chef to go to when I’m in need of a recipe. Thank you for all your hard work!

One of the best home made BBQ sauces I’ve had in 45 years of being a be vegetarian is, with some modifications, the one in the 40 + year old: THE FARM COOKBOOK, the BBQ sauce for Gluten ribs. I use much less sweet, salt, oil and mustard. It is not hard to make, but does require a full hour of simmer time, which makes all the flavors transform and wonderful. Check it out. All in one big cast Iron pan. Awesome! Ann

Hi Becca, I swap beans in recipes all the time. You can also try kidney beans as well. It does change the taste some but not much. You could also try cannellini beans or kidney beans mixed with cooked brown lentils. Looking foreward to making this recipe.
Gina

I started making this and realized I was out of black beans (whoops!) so I subbed a can of pinto instead and it was delicious! May have had a bit more liquid compared to black but we enjoyed it. This is my favorite vegan burger-substitute!

Read thru the directions and am wondering why we leave the oven on after roasting the beans and pecans. Am I missing something? Also, the directions say “spread baked beans”, but it is black beans, right?

I was wondering this as well. The black beans that go into the oven look like they’ve already been baked. So, start with a cup of dried black beans. Rinse, then… soak? Dry and then bake. Is that right?

These are absolutely delicious, better than most any veg burger you can get in a restaurant. The smoke flavor really makes it. My whole family loved them! Easy to prepare, though mine made six patties instead of four as in the recipe. Not complaining though! Another plus is that they don’t fall apart; perfect firmness and texture. Definitely a keeper.

made these for dinner tonight! Wow!! My kids ate it and LOVED it!! Thanks for such a wonderful recipe! The only problem was that mine were still very mushy after frying in the pan. Are they suppose to be a little bit stiff like a beef burger?
Other than that, they were amazing! Can’t wait to make them again!

Hi Joanne! I am wondering if you could have cooked the beans down a bit longer to dry them out and prevent the burgers from having a mushy consistency. The beans should have appeared dry and cracked open. Glad you enjoyed the recipe though!

I love your website and have made so many of the recipes, so thanks for everything you do. I had the same problem, and read the comments before making the burgers, so I made sure my black beans were super dried out before making the burgers, but they still turned out a little bit mushy (and delicious). Do you have any suggestions for making crispier burgers? Also would these burgers still be good if I made a bunch in advance and froze them? If so, would that change the cooking time at all? Thanks again!

While they are still soft inside, you could try making them thinner to cook them through more which may make them crispier? If you are hoping to make a bunch ahead, you can store them in the freezer up to 1 month.

Just made this tonight and they were fantastic! I followed the recipe with no substitutions. The prep work does take some time but the burgers were worth it. Due to my schedule that day, I did have to stick the burgers in the fridge after I pan fried them and before i put them in the oven with the barbecue sauce. I just baked them a tad bit longer to make sure they were hot and browned. Served them on thin buns with avocado, slaw, onion, pickle, lettuce, and red bell pepper slices. So good!

My boyfriend made these last night, using raw walnuts instead of the pecans. You should have seen the pride on his face when he took the first bite. I would be careful to process them for long enough though, since ours fell apart quite a bit. Flavour was great. Will definitely be making these again.

I’ve been waiting for a new burger from here! I was going to christen my new Ninja processor with the recent black bean quinoa falafels, but now this! I’ll be enjoying both recipes soon. Thanks very much.

Hi Dana – Love your stuff !
Just curious if anyway you could make a low protein veggie burger recipe for a PKU kid? Most of your vegan stuff has a high protein bean or nut which I fiddle with and take out or substitute but as you spend way more time in the creation phase than I do, I was just wondering if you could think up a low protein burger mix … as summer is coming here in Ohio !!!

These look and sound incredible! I can’t wait to try them. I’m thinking they would be amazing topped with caramelized onions and avocado. Yum!! PS I’m not a vegan or a vegetarian but I LOVE pretty much all your recipes. :)

I’ve tried the bake-beans-before-burgers trick and it’s fantastic! Who likes mushy burgers? Not me! I am a bit lazy sometimes though, and the process of soaking beans, cooking beans, then baking them is a lot of steps. I just tried a burger recipe treating the beans the way I do falafel, and I can’t figure out why I didn’t do it before: don’t cook the soaked beans, just rinse after soaking and throw in the processor! The beans turn into the same texture as pulsed nuts and cook wonderfully in the burger. Less steps :)

Cheers,
Katie
*Of course, this hack is for if you use dried beans. Canned beans and baking is definitely the way to go!

That’s a very excellent point! I’ve used sprouted chickpeas in the past, but in all honesty they were sprouted only because I forgot I was soaking them. I think next round I’ll do a blind trial: one with cooked + baked beans, one with just soaked beans, and one with soaked + sprouted beans to see if I notice any difference or like one over the other. :)

Hmmm, when I saw this in my mailing list, I was a bit skeptical. I am pretty set on the Beyond Meat burger and my Boca vegan patties, but I definitely think that this homemade recipe made with black beans, quinoa, and SWEET POTATO (OMG!!) will become a new favorite of mine! Barbecue-flavored anything wins me over too. I might be daring one day and swap out the barbecue for teriyaki, a soyaki sauce, or even a Sriracha peanut sauce for some Asian flairs!

Great looking recipe. I’m on the hunt for a burger of this consistency that utilizes charbroiled flavor in lieu of tex-mex spices. I suspect swapping the black beans for one of more nuetral flavor, and perhaps swapping charcoals for the cumin might work. Suggestions? =^..^=

This was absolutely delicious. We had this yesterday with red cabbage and caramelized balsamic red onions. I wonder though, if I could do something about the crumbly texture. While raw, the consistency was really dough-like and easy to press into patties, but after baking it it held its form but crumbled quite a lot while eating. Maybe my patties were too thin? They were about the size and thickness of the palm of my hand. I will absolutely make this again, thank you so much for sharing !

Oh yeah this ones gonna be dilly-dilly!
Totally impressed how you took you photography passion & skill—and vid now too— and really applied it! I have followed your site a while via a friend who swears by you. Your stuff has been really tasty. Trying to become a vegan after reading the very logical book ‘The Starch Solution.’ I am glad there are people like you just putting quality material and info out there. Ps. nice design work on your site/books too.

Well I just learned something! Apparently I’ve been cooking mushrooms all wrong; loved the way these turned out. Keeping it healthy I made a super simple BBQ sauce and after frying the burgers I put them in the oven on the cookie sheet with parchment paper and then wilted some greens in the fry pan. Very Nice Indeed.

These looked so good that I had to try it! I did sub out some ingredients that I didn’t have on hand though. I used regular potatoes, brown rice, and hemp seeds for the sweet potatoes, quinoa and pecans.

The flavors were delicious! Drying the black beans out in the oven really helped the texture a lot to prevent it from being overly mushy.

Thank you for a great recipe. My meat loving boyfriend scarfed down two :P

Wow! These look delicious- can’t wait to try. Reading through the instructions however it seems like there’s a lot of steps. After chilling the “dough” is it necessary to fry them for 10 minutes before baking them for another 10-15? Or could you just go straight from the fridge to the oven? Just trying to find ways to cut down on prep time.

Also – do they freeze well & do you freeze them before frying? Or before baking?

Hi Amy! It’s best to sear both sides on the stovetop and then finish baking in the oven, where they will dry out and firm up a bit, but if you try cutting down steps, just know that they may not be as firm. As for freezing them, I recommend freezing prior to frying, and then when ready to use, bake them to thaw, followed by frying. Hope this helps!

Just made these. They taste amazing, but they fell apart! The texture seemed perfect when I formed them. I followed all the cooking instructions and they held together for the most part when I placed them on a bun, however as soon as you started eating them they just crumbled. Any suggestions? I would love to be able to serve these to guests.

Thank you for your fast reply! Yes it was a perfect ‘loose meal’. It all formed a cohesive ball when I removed it from the food processor. That’s what doesn’t make sense. It adhered and formed patties. I noticed that after cooking it was still soft and sticky in the middle as well. Fried first in the pan, then 15 mins at 375.

I made these today and used the one pot black bean recipe for the beans. (Also a delicious recipe btw) The burgers came out great! Baking the beans in the oven is such a great idea and I will be using that technique for other burger recipes in the future. These held together really well and were delicious!

Recent vegan–we’ll see how long that lasts–and this was my first attempt at making black bean burgers. SO GOOD. I think I can improve the texture next time around, considering how I might have over-pulsed a bit, but the flavors were absolutely perfect. Will be trying again soon!

I am going to make this recipe for my adult kids and grandkids, who are not vegan. The recipe really sounds great. I am trying it out today, then will make a double or triple batch for the “kids”. My question is: When you list “sweet potato”, do you mean an actual sweet potato or a yam? My family always called “yams” – “sweet potatoes” until I met my Swedish/Swiss husband who said that actual sweet potatoes were not yams. Which did you use? Have a wonderful Easter celebration. Lucia

WOW! I have to say that I have never posted a comment before but these were so good, I had to.
I substituted cashews for the pecans due to my sons allergy to pecans. I used Braggs liquid aminos instead of the coconut aminos (thats what I had in). I also cut back a little on the chili powder and cumin. Other than that, I followed the recipe as written. They are moist (but not too), very flavorful and satisfying. I used the pressing in the half cup method for shaping and it made 7 good sized patties.
I will definitely be making these again.

I made these burgers tonight but they turned out super mushy! I was disappointed but it may have been my own mistake. The recipe also made 9 huge patties somehow. I cooked the beans just as you instructed. They were super dry but I steamed the yam. They were still al dente when I threw them in the food processor but could that have caused the mush? I guess I should’ve thrown in another dry ingredient but I was too hungry to play with the recipe so I baked them for a really long time to dry them out as much as possible. I’m gluten free and the buns I used were a bit stiff so with every bite the patty just squished out everywhere :( The flavour was delicious and I’ve made a lot of your recipes and they are fantastic. I’m convinced I did something wrong. I’ll definitely have to make this again but I’ll most likely crumble the remaining patties and use them as taco filling. I’m going to try the vanilla cake tomorrow :)

I made this last evening with my daughter and son in law. I was a process but the burger was delicious and well worth the effort! My son in law is 10 days into vegan and was a real big meat eater – he loved it. We doubled the recipe so that we could have quick leftovers. This was the 4th recipe I have made w MB and each have been devine. I loved every bite of this black bean burger, the toasted quinoa made the big difference I think.
Loved it!

Hi Dana, hello from Sussex, England! Oh my goodness, I made these last night, and I have to say, they are the most delicious black bean burgers EVER. I have made LOTS of black bean burgers, and now I have a new number one! Thank you for all your fab recipes, they are always reliable and keep us going day in day out. Best to you! Xx

I made these last night and my carnivore husband liked them so much he had two! The recipe is a bit more involved than I usually make but I made it in a few days – quinoa one day, veggies the next day, and actually made the burgers the following day. It was well worth the effort and I will definitely make this again. Thanks for a great recipe.

By far the best burger I’ve had as a vegan!!! Far nicer than any I’ve had in a restaurant, absolutely delicious. Your recipes are fantastic…..healthy, easy to make, normal tasting food. Something that’s not always easy when it comes to vegan food. Thank you xx

This is the second burger I have made from your amazing book that I bought. I love them so much! I do have a problem though. My burgers fall apart completely. A little while cooking and all the way while eating. One bite into the burger and I just have a plate of loose quinoa. It’s a mess! Any suggestions? Anyone else struggle with this? I would love to try to make this again with hope I might succeed. I do follow the recipe.

You know it wasn’t this recipe it was the two from your everyday cookbook. Can you give me advice based on those two recipes as they both fell apart completely. Thank you so much. I will try this new recipe soon.

These burgers tasted great, but never firmed up. I don’t own a metal pan, so I water “fried” them in a ceramic coated skillet then baked them on a foil-lined baking sheet. Could that have affected the texture? Also, the patties were in the fridge for a few days before I actually cooked them. I don’t know if that had any impact. I’ll have to try again, making them thinner in the hopes that they’ll dry out more.

What’s the word on freezing patties for later? Ready to try this burger out for 25 people next week! Is make-ahead still delicious, or is it better to prepare them the day-of? If I can make ahead, should I sear them before freezing? (PS just made your grillable veggie burgers last week: SCORE! Yes actually grilled them and fed to carnivores :)

Thank you! With that in mind I have one last question. If I make the patties Sunday and just refrigerate until Tuesday, will that work?? Skip the freezing? Just wondering if the texture would hold up in the fridge or does it need to be frozen?

I just made this recipe a couple of days ago and ended up using millet instead of quinoa because when I went to get started I realized I forgot to buy some on my last grocery trip! I can’t compare it to the quinoa version because this was my first time making these but they turned out great! My husband and I both loved them and had plenty for leftovers.

A lil update on my above comment. I did freeze half the recipe when I made these after the refrigeration step. Once I thawed them, I panned fried them and put them in the oven like the recipe says. They were definitely more dry and crumbled apart a lil in the pan when frying. They were still good, but a lil to dry for my liking. Definitely best eaten right fresh.

We have made many of your recipes over the past several years, but never left any comments. This recipe was SO good, i just had to let you know! As a Midwestern carnivore married to a vegan, this was my first attempt at making a veggie burger at home. We chose your recipe because the ingredients sounded so delicious and simple…and they were! These burgers turned out better than most veggie burgers I’ve tried (and loved) in restaurants. The flavor and texture were PERFECT, so the long prep time was totally worth it. We followed your suggestion to use hemp seeds in place of pecans to make this recipe nut-free. I was impressed at how well the burgers held together and how crispy they were on the outside after baking. So glad we made a double batch!

Great recipe! Going into the rotation. It also make 6 for me, but that’s great because we have some left over for lunch/dinner tomorrow night. You are my go to for dinner inspiration! Topped mine with some spicy sauerkraut, tomatoes, lettuce and red onion… delicious!

Best veggie burger!!! I love the strong barbecue flavor, how it is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and that it’s totally free of soy or other fillers. The finished product makes the prep time so worth it! I recommend serving with carmalized red onion.

We didn’t have mushrooms so we used peeled zucchini instead- worked perfectly! Do yourself a favor and make a double batch and freeze patties for an easy + quick dinner another night!

I just made these exactly according to the recipe and they’re SOOOO good. I actually got five solid burgers so now I’m set for the next couple days. They genuinely taste just as good as something you would get in a restaurant. Easy to make and totally worth it :)

These burgers are awesome. A friend of mine who’s a carnivore was not really happy I tricked him when I said ”Hey come over for dinner I am prepping some hamburgers”. But he loved it. We all did! It is seriously the best veggie burger I ever had. I added a bit of steak seasoning and it was just perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe! I am doing it again to see if the kids will love it as much as I do:)

I am an omnivore, but I often make plant based meals for my family to diversify our paletes. This was absolutely the best black bean burger I’ve ever made. The texture and flavor is just great. All 5 of my omni crew happily tucked in these burgers. I will definitely make these again.
I have seen comments about the mushrooms. If you don’t leave any visible chunks, or let a mushroom hater watch you add them in, I really don’t think the mushrooms will be noticeable. I have two mushroom haters in my crew and they didn’t bat an eye.

These burgers were DELICIOUS!! I followed the recipe without substitutions, and they were some of the best vegan burgers that I’ve ever had! I highly recommend serving these with some tomato and avocado on top :)

Delicious! So this is the most time consuming recipe I prepared for a while but it is worth it. I didn’t have any pecans so I used a mix between walnuts and sunflower seeds. Since I made this for the whole family (including a 3 and a 1-y-o) I used less BBQ sauce and added a bit of homemade ketchup instead and omitted the chili powder. My 3-y-o daughter was happy to help – she loves pushing the buttons of the food processor and making the patties. I cooked them only in the pan and they held together beautifully. Enough so that my 1-y-o son did not smash his patty. Since it does take a fair while I made double the amount so we can eat them again later on in the week.

These burgers are the bomb! I made them true to the recipe and it was very satisfying. However next time I wanted to serve them on a bed of lettuce and thought to omit the BBQ sauce and use liquid smoke instead. Check! Also for the dressing I processed avocado, jalapeno, lime juice and cilantro in the cuisinart. This worked well on the burger and as a dressing for the salad which included raw veggie sticks and more of the roasted pecans. Love this and so did the guests! Thank you so much Dana for the great recipes!! XOXO

Last night I made this for me and my partner. We subbed extra black beans because he doesn’t like quinoa. I didn’t have any vegan bbq sauce, so I just used the Hunts or whatever it was in my fridge. The burgers were a perfect consistency after briefly frying in a pan and then baking. We had them on potato rolls with tomato, onion, cheese, and pickles. My predominately carnivorous partner said he would totally eat them again. Good amount of prep work and dishes involved, but a fun date night in.

These were excellent! Loved the flavor and consistency. Made a double batch and was able to get 10 burgers out of it. Does require several steps but so worth it. Unlike many other veggie burgers I’ve tried I had no issue with them falling apart. I really think getting those beans super dry is the reason — so smart! So we made 2 as directed and I’ve now frozen 8 pre frying/baking. I’m serving them on Friday at my bday BBQ dinner. I’ve read all the comments and still a bit confused as to the best strategy for cooking them out of the freezer — if it’s bake for 10 min then fry, for 8-10 min when does the BBQ sauce on top make an appearance. Thanks so much! Can’t wait to serve to my omni friends, along with your macaroni salad. :-)

Great recipe. Wonderful flavor. Made a double batch a few weeks ago for vegan family who LOVED them. Also a huge hit with the non vegans!

There are quite a few steps and it seemed to take me longer than I usually like to spend cooking a meal. So about to repeat for tomorrow so I’m pre cooking quinoa, drying beans and cooking sweet potatoes and mushrooms a day ahead as I’m serving left overs tonight! Hoping that splitting across two nights will make it seem less burdensome.

Just finished making these! Haven’t tasted yet (lol) but they look awesome. I don’t have a food processor so I used my blender… if using a blender, I recommend blending beans + pecans/sweet potatoes + mushrooms and putting them in a separate bowl and then combinging together. It will help avoid the beans and pecans from becoming a purée while the potatoes stay whole. Thanks for the recipe!

I made six batches of this recipe and for my daughter’s first birthday barbecue. It was a crowd pleaser! My sister asked if they could take some home. Ha! Thanks for yet again another delicious recipe.
I send people to your website often when they need recipe inspiration!

A friend recently recommended your website. This is the first recipe I’ve made, and I absolutely loved it! The flavour and texture were perfect. This will definitely make it into our meal rotation. Thank you so much!! xo

Thanks you so much for this receipe ! These parties are so delicious! I am a slow cook so it did take me quite a while to make them but so worth it! I usually do not like store brought “burgers” here is France and making your receipe was the best decision ever ! They are so good ! Thank you!

This was really tasty. I added in smoked paprika too to add to the bbq flavour because it’s my fav.

My burgers fell apart tho, they were squishy. My mix made 6 so I dunno if maybe I used too much veg? My quinoa was a little damp too. I’ll be interested to try again rectifying the above & see if they stay in 1 piece.

SO GOOD! I topped mine with sautéed mushrooms (leftover from the burgers), mashed avocado, and pickled red onions.

My meat-eating boyfriend said the texture was the “meatiest” out of all of the veggie burgers I’ve ever made. We like thinner burgers so we ended up getting 8 out of the recipe & paired it with sweet potato fries.